This report, produced by the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in cooperation with the Tropical Prediction Center (TPC), is a preliminary summary of the 1996 Atlantic Hurricane Season. The report provides a synopsis of each named tropical storm using textual information based on the TPC Preliminary Hurricane Reports authored by Avila, et al, and remotely sensed and in-situ data received at the NCDC. The satellite imagery for each storm were taken by either the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) or the Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES). Additional meteorological data for Hurricanes Bertha and Fran, the two most important hurricanes affecting the U.S. mainland, are also included. The graphical products include: NEXRAD Level III Base Velocity, Base Reflectivity and Storm Total Precipitation; GOES Water Vapor Movement Winds; and total precipitation from an extensive collection of cooperative and National Weather Service stations. The statistics on deaths and damages were obtained from the TPC's Preliminary Hurricane Reports.

The infrared and visible satellite images were created from either the GOES Imager or the POES AVHRR instrument. The visible channel measures the reflectance of the objects scanned. Clouds are more reflective than surface objects which appear dark. The infrared channel measures emitted long-wave radiation from the earth and cloud tops which allows us to "see" clouds at night. Another important feature of the infrared channel is that the temperatures of cloud tops, land and ocean surfaces can be determined and color coded to enhance key features on a satellite image. Cloud tops have been colorized using a scale ranging from gray, indicating the warmest cloud tops, to maroon, indicating the coldest cloud tops Fig. 1. Land and ocean features are warmer than the clouds and were assigned a black color during the imaging process.